Sunday, July 31, 2011

It's ok to #EduVent

I've had a very busy weekend and I'm about to have a very busy week. I was checking in on Twitter and I saw a friend of mine stressing out a bit. I sent a DM and a goofy picture and I let them vent. It felt good to listen and just be a sounding board.

Sometimes I think many teachers are afraid to vent, especially on Twitter. So, I had an idea that I shared with my friend and we think it could be really helpful.

Using the hashtag #EduVent, we want educators to feel free to share that they are having a rough day. My hope is that people will reach out when someone uses the #EduVent tag and send them a DM to see how you can help. I think to many people still feel alone even though they are on Twitter.

I hope this tag will connect people in a more personal way and provide support to many of us who need a person to just talk to when nobody else is around.

There are so many positive and caring people in my PLN, I'm really hoping this tag takes off and we can help those who need it.

Update for clarification:

After reading a couple of comments below I realized that most post was not clear. I am not suggesting that everyone just spout off on how terrible their students, principals, etc are being and that is why you are having a bad day or week. That could lead to some repercussions that I would hate to see for any person.

The #EduVent tag is supposed to be a signal for others to contact the person through DM to talk about the issue in private where people can share their feelings however they want. Its meant to be a way for teachers to connect and discuss bigger issues that cannot be discussed on Twitter or other Social Media sites.

I hope this is something that will allow some people to connect and not feel so alone when dealing with problems. The one thing Twitter has shown me over the past year and a half is that I'm not alone and I want others to feel the same.

If you have questions or concerns, please drop me a comment and I'll get back to you.
- @TheNerdyTeacher

5 comments:

Hi Nick,I don't know how successful the #edvent hashtag can be. Vents aren't always phrased in the most diplomatic of ways, and those who have taken to the Internet to vent about their job in education (often in relation to the people they deal with - their students, fellow teachers, administrators, or parents of students) have faced reprimands and worse. I vaguely recall one teacher who used her (what she thought was) private blog to complain about her students and their intelligence and conduct - one of the students found her account and copied her comments publicly for all to see. Teachers need to be very careful about how they vent so they don't cross the line and insult people. People should never presume that anything they write online (via Twitter, email, blog or such) is private or stays that way. I don't want to be a downer for an idea that aims to support teachers in need (so many quite their first year or first few years in the profession) but I just want to urge caution.

I completely understand your concerns about venting in public. My idea, which I will try to explain better above, was to have people just say they are having a rough day, use the tag and then people would connect through email, Skype, etc.

I would never encourage people to bad mouth their school, students, etc. on Twitter for the world to see. That's why I I created the tag to so people could connect without spilling everything on Twitter.

I appreciate your comments and will change the post to note these concerns.

Hi Nick,I too have been pondering about this idea and don't think it is wise either. If we are connected properly on Twitter or our other networks we shouldn't need a hashtag to let others know if we had a rough day. In fact, I would highly caution people to use such a hashtag. People from my district and parents follow me on Twitter and I would never give then any reason to think that I was "complaining" or venting in public, which let's face it, Twitter is public.As teachers or people in education we live by different rules for our private life, I recently had a wonderful discussion happen on a post I wrote regarding this and then end opinion was that we don't get full privacy. So while your sentiment is nice, I hope people don't use the tag. Mostly because they don't have to, because they already have people they can reach out to.Best,Pernille